


The Lost Soldier

by Weresilver



Series: Doom [3]
Category: Doom (Video Games)
Genre: But nothing too graphical, Character Study, Demonic Possession, Depiction of Violence, Gen, Nameless soldier becomes a demon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:48:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22642111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weresilver/pseuds/Weresilver
Summary: People were sent to close a portal. No one came out. And one soldier, in particular, became something else.
Series: Doom [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1628647
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	The Lost Soldier

The first time he saw one of those things, he froze. It hadn’t seen him. It was but one in a colossal invasion, however, and they were just a squad of six. He held the assault rifle in front of him and shot it all the same. The flames died out and the horned skull fell to the ground with a loud screech, breaking into god knows how many pieces.

He distantly wondered just where god was right now, with a demonic invasion of all things going on. Was this truly supposed to be the apocalypse?

He led his soldiers further into the facility, refusing to split up. They had lost contact with the other groups, and he would not lose any of his men. Personnel turned into zombies, rising from the floor in every new corridor and room they walked in.

They were dispatched efficiently, and zombies were all they encountered on way too many floors down. Clearing out the facility wouldn’t take too long if things stayed like this. But they never did.

In the facility’s generator room, they were greeted by a wall of fire. Screeching, the blue flames turned red, moving toward them with unbelievable speed. _Retreat_ , he had signaled, but they were already above them.

He wasn’t the first -- or second, for that matter -- to start firing. Some of the skulls fell, others managed to fly past the barrage of bullets, but still, too many of them dove in their direction, exploding against the ground and forcing them backward.

_Retreat_.

They stumbled as they stepped back, never turning away from the demons that were after them -- and from those that were still in the generator room. A millisecond of hesitation. He had to reload. It was all it took for one of the flaming skulls to dive against his chest.

_It has begun._

His eyes snapped open as abruptly as they had closed. He could hear the voices of some of the soldiers, further away at every passing second. _Are you going to let them go?_ The thought wasn’t his own, but it _was_ in his mind.

He stood up, focusing on the voices he could hear but not see the source of. He gained speed at every step he took, gripping his gun tight as he followed a voice. Corner after corner, he found only dead personnel. Bodies scattered all throughout the corridors.

_Traitors. Shoot the traitors._

He pulled the trigger as soon as he turned, only vaguely aware of what he was shooting at. The bullet went through the neck of one of the zombies, continuing toward the soldier that was trying to break free from its grasp. The scream that followed gave him pause. He came in with them, but they were ready to leave him behind… They turned their back on him. He fired again.

He kept walking. Zombies started moving around him, and he shot them down as well. They were his to kill and none of them would get in his way. There was some sort of… joy in killing these things, on the other hand. Maybe it was just the sight of blood not his own.

_They have separated. Easy hunt._

He didn’t know how he knew that. Hadn’t he told them to stay together? They were unprepared to deal with it all on their own. They should have stayed together. _Pairs_ , he thought, _they are in pairs_.

He stopped at the fallen soldier’s side, looking at the reflection on the helmet. It wasn’t him. A burnt torso, decaying flesh and dead eyes under a broken helmet…

_This is you._

He had just killed one of his own men.

_They left you behind._

He followed his instinct -- he tracked down the next voice he heard. Navigating the corridors was simple enough. The first pair had their back to him, but that wouldn’t quite do. He wanted them to _see_ what killed them.

He shot their thighs, sending them tumbling to the floor almost at the same time. They turned around, calling a name he no longer recognized, pleading for a mercy he wasn’t willing to give. When understanding dawned on them, the expressions of horror sent a jolt of adrenaline through his body as he approached. With no second thought, he smashed one of the soldiers’ face with the butt of his rifle. The rush of satisfaction at the crunch of breaking bones was undeniable. He kept at it until he was sure he’d died.

The whispers of pleas and prayers drew his attention away from the corpse. The other soldier was trying to stand up, to make a move for the gun that had been abandoned on the floor. But he was closer to it and kicked it out of his reach.

A single bullet sufficed, this time.

Someone, he couldn’t remember who, once told him that being a soldier meant being a killer. He couldn’t disagree, not anymore. Neither would he want to.

_They left you._

He wouldn’t forget that. He could deal with the facility. He would kill them all himself once he found the last two traitors.

He made his way back to the generator room, for the most part ignoring the zombies still rising around him. Those were no longer _his_ concern.

_Protect the Nest._

The portal stood on a pedestal of flesh in the center of the room. He approached slowly, lowering his gun for the first time, and knelt once he came before it. The energy it radiated… It gave him purpose and nothing would stand in his way.

Heavy footsteps made him turn around, minutes later.

_Kill him._

Someone was walking in with a way-too-calm demeanor, reloading an old-style shotgun. He recognized the armor, had heard of it as modified marine gear. Had seen _him_ described as the main force fighting against the invasion. One man couldn’t stop it. He ran forward, firing once again, this time focused on not letting him reach the Nest.

_Kill him. Kill the Slayer._

**Author's Note:**

> Again, let me know if you think I should update the tags. I think I spent more time to settle them than writing this haha.  
> I hope you guys enjoyed the most recent (and longest) of my Doom ficlets. There should be one more at some point...  
> I also hope you guys enjoy the wordplay on the title ;)


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